cheap salt vs expensive

[BCOrchidGuy]

Well, I've tried expensive salt and found huge differences from one batch to another. I started to use Kent when it was made by IO and I liked the Kent salt but now it's made somewhere else and I didn't like it as much. Now I use IO, I figure with the Randy Holmes Ca and Alk all I have to buy is some decent Magnesium (Kent Tech M) and I couldn't be happier. I have been curious about the salt that they sell out at Hidden Reef, I meant to pick up a pail and see what it was like but got carried away with frags and forgot about salt. I think it's Ocean Pure, $29 a bucket, I figured it would be worth a try.

Someone recently made a good point about salts with higher Ca, Alk, Mg etc and what they had to say was pretty much, unless you do a 100% water change you'll usually have to dose your calcium, magnesium and alkalinity anyway because even with a $100 bucket of salt the extra Calcium etc is gone with in a day or two.

Save money on water conditioners, you don't need aloe etc, just get a cheap chlorine/chloramine remover and don't over dose it. I bought some cheap stuff, for my 5gal make up tank I have to use 1/2ml of conditioner. I used the old syringe from a Salifert test kit and use the 1/2ml I need to, I figure at 1/2 ml/2 weeks I should get 20 years out of my 250ml bottle. I wonder what my tank will look like in 20 years... when I need to start shopping for a new fangled water conditoner.

Doug